Source documentsMedia Articles - 1980s

Last updated3 December 2002

Q - I read in your column about a woman who is desperate to get off smoking
pot. She says it is costing her and her family a fortune in money and in ravaged
relationships, and she is hoping for a better life.

In 1978 I did a Purification Rundown to get the drugs out of my body. This
rundown is available in Los Angeles, although I did it in Australia and had
excellent results there. I believe the principles of the rundown would be uniform
in this country. It is delivered by an organization called Narconon, and I cannot
recommend it highly enough. I hadn't taken much in the way of street drugs but
had been on medical drugs for several years. After the rundown my perceptions
were so much better I had a hard time believing that I was that fogged in before
I had done it.

Narconon handles the residual drugs in the body with exercise, sweating (in
a sauna) and carefully balanced vitamins and minerals and oil. They have a tremendous
success rate, and I would like this woman to have an opportunity to try this
program. It also is available through an organization called DETOX in Beverly
Hills, Calif. I believe that health insurance programs refund all the costs
involved (or at least the major portion).

Would you let me know if you have heard of either of these organizations and
whether I can be of help in introducing you to them?

A - Although I have never heard of DETOX in Beverly Hills, I need no introduction
to Narconon about which, in an article, "Scientology: The Sickness Spreads,"
the September, 1981, Reader's Digest had this to say: "But Scientology's
biggest social-reform gimmick to date has been the 'Narconons,' fronts that
allegedly rehabilitate drug addicts." The Digest says legal experts working
for Scientology "designed a whole package of 'correspondence' and phony
minutes of directors' meetings to make the Narconons appear independent and
justify government cash payments for 'consultation' fees. . . . Narconon charges
$530 for its basic two-week detoxification program, and more for advanced courses.
And they claim an 86-percent 'cure' rate."

In 1983, the Atlanta Journal Constitution published an article about a Church
of Scientology that opened in that city that offered, among others, "one
$1,000 service, called 'Purification Rundown,' (that) promises to rid your body
of harmful drug traces, cure ailments and make you smarter in two weeks."
This article notes that the United States Food and Drug Administration "has
received consumer complaints about the Purification Rundown course and the medical
benefits claimed for it."

Although I am glad that it worked for you, under the circumstances I would
be reluctant to recommend this program to anyone. I would like to hear from
other readers about this subject.